By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
In three weeks, Justin Fontaine’s NASCAR career will be over. When the Camping World Truck Series takes the green flag for the Ford Ecoboost 200 on November 16, the 21-year-old will cap off his final full-time season in NASCAR, his rookie campaign for Niece Motorsports.
The decision came via social media on September 17 when Fontaine put his heart into a self-written press release. For him, it was a way to get his feelings out into the open.
“It was a huge burden off my shoulders to say what you’ve been wanting to say,” Fontaine told Kickin’ The Tires. “You do it and it exposes you in a way you’ve never been exposed before. It was almost liberating.”
The decision didn’t come easy, which made the official announcement no easy task.
“I was in the library doing geology homework actually and I was sitting there thinking about it,” he said. “I didn’t want to have a typical PR ‘Fontaine will not drive the No. 45 next year.’ I wanted it to be from me on a personal level.
“I’ve tried to be that guy who’s open about his struggles. I felt that was something I needed to do for the fans and my family.”
Regarding 2019… pic.twitter.com/naDKcTtSTW
— Justin Fontaine (@JustinFontaine_) September 17, 2018
Though it wasn’t until mid-September until the world knew, the retirement decision was months old for the Fontaine family, as the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May sparked a thought in Fontaine.
A rash of mistakes that night took its toll on Fontaine.
“Charlotte was probably the most on-the-ropes I’ve ever been,” he said. “We got into the race and I just made a lot of mistakes. I remember Josh Reaume was running around me and I accidentally wrecked him. He was really understanding of it though. I just felt terrible, another small team, a good guy and I would never wreck someone on purpose.
“And when you know you’ve made mistakes, it’s a burden when you get out of the truck. When we had to park the truck with like 20 to go, I couldn’t get out of the truck. I was about to break down completely and I didn’t want to do it in public.”
Personal Stress
The seventh race of the season ended in a 30th-place finish. More than that, it gave Fontaine the realization of where he was mentally regarding the team’s struggles.
“I was in tears after the race. I was just broken,” he said. “My dad and I had a good talk about it. I looked at where everything was, my own mental health was in a state in stagnation. It wasn’t very good. I wasn’t sleeping well. I just wasn’t happy as an individual. It was tough on me personally.
“We knew it was time to move on. I couldn’t handle the personal stress.”
The step up to Trucks started in 2016 when the North Carolina native made his series debut at Martinsville that October. Backing it up with two starts in 2017, he was given a full-time season in 2018 with Niece Motorsports, starting the year with two top 10s in the first three races.
But 2018 wasn’t Fontaine’s first crack at a hefty schedule, however, as he ran most of 2017 in the ARCA Racing Series following a broken back in the opening race at Daytona.
That year gave Fontaine a level of preparation for what was to come in the Truck Series.
“I gave up a lot of my social life, which I was willing to do to race,” he said. “Family time I sacrificed. I miss that, I really do. I commend the drivers who can travel as much as required because it’s a lot. Fans don’t realize it as much.”
Sponsorship Struggles
It also gave Fontaine a lesson in sponsorship and its importance through NASCAR’s ladder system.
“I’d be the first to admit, I’m not a driver who is hirable based on talent alone,” he said. “It would have taken a lot of sponsorship for me to stay in something next year.
“I am grateful for the support I did get. Superior Essex, I built that relationship over the course of two years. I’m really proud of that. They were with me on this decision.”
With no regrets in his move up to Trucks this year, Fontaine, in fact, put effort into a 2019 plan.
“I certainly don’t want to give the impression that I wasn’t having fun. I certainly tried,” he said. “I don’t have an agency who represent me, I don’t have a team of people who do that. It was on me to get it. I spent a lot of time calling companies. It was such a stressful experience being told ‘No’ every week.
“I tried every pitch idea I knew and it wasn’t catching. Do you really want to be that stressed all the time?”
Hail Mary attempt for the 2019 season 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/hHyE9iV9WC
— Justin Fontaine (@JustinFontaine_) October 23, 2018
A Change in NASCAR
Sponsorship struggle is nothing new for drivers in 21st-century NASCAR and Fontaine hopes his decision, which joins a long list of retirements in the past year, will spark a change in NASCAR’s driver business model.
“I feel I can be honest about it now because I don’t have anybody to please anymore,” he chuckled. “I do think the sponsorship is a big factor in it. It’s hard to find it. Half the cars in Cup now either don’t have a sponsor or are splitting the schedule among 15 different sponsors. That’s not a good thing.
“I believe the sport is going to get better, I really do. But we’re going through a period right now that’s tough.
“I don’t know how much of a statement my stepping away will be, but I hope other drivers who’ve decided to step away will be eye-openers to the people in the sport to look at changing. There are a lot of good guys in the garage we have to keep around.”
What’s Next
Like most drivers, future racing opportunities are hard to walk away from even after a retirement decision. For Fontaine, hard lines have been developed as to where he would or would not race moving forward. goal No 1: No racing in 2019.
“I want to have a year off not doing racing at all. So, 2019 I don’t expect to race anything,” he said. “The earliest you’ll see me in any vehicle would be 2020.
“I have a standard on how I want to do it if I’m going to do it. If I’m going to come back to Trucks, it won’t be full-time, it will be in a competitive deal.
“With short tracks, I have to be having fun. You’re typically not traveling far and you’re staying overnight everywhere. Nine times out of 10, your friends are your crew. I wouldn’t rule that out.”
With an eye set on the future, Fontaine knows it won’t hit him until 2019 comes.
“I’m at peace with it,” he said. “It probably won’t get really real until I see everyone down in Daytona without me and someone else in the No. 45 truck. Knowing I got to build a foundation with Niece and be a part of that history is really cool. I’m going to look fondly on this year.”
Outside the racecar in 2019, Fontaine plans to return to Daytona as a fan, road-tripping for an undecided race in January of February of next year.
“I want to be a fan again when it pertains to sport,” he said. “My roommate and I are planning a road trip to either the 24 Hours of Daytona or the ARCA race at Daytona. We haven’t decided which one we want to do yet.”
And outside of racing, Fontaine will chase his interest in politics, continuing with his political science major as well as interning with North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry.
“I have some internships for a politician (Patrick McHenry),” he said. “I’m going to go work for him for a little bit to see what the world is like without racing.
“The goal is, no matter how long the racing career was, I wanted to run for president at some point. That’s the goal.”
(Below is a video capture of our interview with Justin Fontaine)
